[ooc] Dream
"You promised me."
There was a chess set directly in front of him, a landscape of cheap wood pieces scattered in a massacre of black over white. His hand hovered over a black King, one move away from checkmating his white opponent. Such an easy win. It was dull, boring! No challenge to it.
He looked up from the game and saw a pretty dark haired Asian girl in a lab coat pouting at him. They were standing at a raised table in the middle of gray elevator of all things. The elevator doors were just behind the girl, the electronic button display dinging as it counted down the floors. 55...54...53...52...
"Promised what?" He asked as he twirled a black chess piece between his fingers.
"You promised to show me how to avoid spandrels when aligning rigid designators!" The girl huffed as she moved her white pawn. "You may be the boy god of all things neuro, but you suck at keeping promises."
The elevator was still dinging. 28...27...26...
He felt himself smirk as he easily made the winning move. "Humility is part of the learning process," he told her.
...3...2...1...DING!
The door opened and he walked out, leaving the girl behind. Recycled air greeted him as he moved across a catwalk that rose over a massive atrium. Perhaps it was the change in pressure or maybe it was the temperature, but he felt a bit dizzy as he moved. He walked down polished wood stairs to his next chess opponent, a man with light hair dressed in a business suit. The man was sitting cross legged at a stone chess set that was balanced at the ledge of a square decorative pond. Even as he approached, he saw that this game was all but over as well. The black stones had the clear advantage.
The man--handsome and a bit crazy in the eyes--glared at him as he walked up. "How'd you do that?" A pale hand flicked over the board.
He shrugged. " I don't want to use the word genius," he said as he removed the man's King, "but I'd be OK if you wanted to." He handed the piece to the man and continued to move, his dizziness growing worse by the second.
He moved from the pond to a workout room. There was a tall black man there, also in a suit. Silver chess pieces glimmered in the bright lights of the space. He wasn't sure if he wanted to play anymore--his head was starting to ache. But the game beckoned him. This game was much more complex--it looked like he was wining but just barely. His opponent appeared to be two steps behind him.
The man looked sympathetic as he took his spot at the game. "It didn't go so well," he said gently.
He shook his head, wincing when the movement made his head throb. "No, I was just trying to help." He made his move. His strategy wasn't so clear here, he felt clouded by his growing headache. He also felt wary of this opponent. For some reason this man made him feel fearful.
The man waved as he walked off. "See you....friend."
He walked into a dark office decorated in sobering colors and covered with shelves of files. There was a petite woman sitting at a massive wooden desk. The chess set in front of her was made of glass. The game looked tied.
He didn't notice until he was a few feet from her that the woman's face was horribly scarred, angry red lines etched across her face in sharp divides. He jumped and tried to back away from her in horror.
The woman had tears in her eyes. "Why shouldn't I love you?" She cried. "Aren't you the Lord my God?!" She threw a chess piece at his head and he ducked--he heard it shatter on the wall behind him.
He ran and nearly fell up a fight of stairs, into another office--no a lab. A lab filled with toys and a trampoline....
There was an older woman dressed impeccably in a silk blouse and dress skirt, waiting for him with a chess board on a table in front of a large examination chair. The chess pieces were tiny shot glasses, filled with what looked and smelled like whiskey.
The game was over. He'd lost--his side of the board was fill of empty glasses and he felt drunk.
"You know why you were chosen," she said in a soft accent. She held out a glass.
His head felt like it was about to burst. But he managed to reach for the shot and down it with his eyes closed. The world tilted dangerously and bright lights burned through his eyelids.
When he opened his eyes he was sitting in the examination chair, in a half reclined position with computers surrounding him. There was a different Asian woman with light brown hair standing over him in a purple tank top. Behind her stood another woman wearing yoga pants and a red top. She had a gold chess board set up for a new game.
The Asian woman smiled at him. "Hello ******."
""Did I fall asleep?" He asked her.
"For a little while."
"Shall I go now?"
"If you like."